Reels are used in crop harvesting devices, particularly in cutters, to feed standing crop material to a cutter bar and a cross-feed device. They have a number of tine carriers (usually six) that extend over the width of the crop harvesting device and carry a plurality of tines. The tine carriers are rotatably seated at their ends on spiders and are usually provided with an angle control. The angle control successively varies the angle of the tine carrier relative to the spider as the spider rotates about a central horizontal axis that is transverse to the direction of travel. Additional support elements between the spiders enhance the stability of the tine carriers. In known reel embodiments, the support elements extend in a star shape from a central carrier tube outwards to the tine carriers. Other embodiments also disclose structure in which adjacent carrier rods were directly connected to one another by support links, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,024,735, U.S. Pat. No. 2,102,709 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,109.
For connection between the support element and the tine carrier or the transverse elements of the reel interacting with the crop, various embodiments have been described. In U.S. Pat. No. 47,338, U.S. Pat. No. 2,024,735, U.S. Pat. No. 2,102,709, U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,299 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,710, a U-shaped bracket that surrounds the transverse element is used. A clamp that contacts the transverse element on three sides is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,610,460. In all embodiments, it is necessary to disassemble the support element for repair. A considerable amount of time is necessary, since usually a threaded fastener must be taken off before the bracket or clamp can be removed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 686,823, connectors between the support element and the center carrier tube are furnished with spring elements and automatically engage during assembly. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,123,949 a bolt serves to fasten the support element to the carrier tube. These connections require a flange on the center carrier tube, which, however, is not available on the tine carrier.
In a related patent application by the assignee of the present application, DE 10 2004 001 383 A to be published subsequently, a reel without a central carrier tube is described. The tine carriers are connected to one another by links that form a supporting latticework.